Sherry Garland

A young Vietnamese girl saves a lotus seed and carries it with her everywhere to remember a brave emperor and the homeland that she has to flee.

From the 1500s to the present, different voices and perspectives of men and women--Indian, Mexican, Spanish, Texan, and American--recount the history of the Alamo and its region.

In the journal she receives for her twelfth birthday in 1835, Lucinda Lawrence describes the hardships her family and other residents of the "Texas colonies" endure when they decide to face the Mexicans in a fight for their freedom.

The 1845-1846 diary of thirteen-year-old Maria, servant to the wealthy Spanish family which took her in when her Indian mother died. Includes a historical note about the settlement and early history of California.

After a winter storm destroys the sand dunes that provide a home for plants and animals, a beach community bands together to restore the dunes.

Describes the history, people, politics, culture, major cities,and other aspects of Vietnam.